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Tuesday, March 11, 2014

The incident in Dallas Monday night in which Stars forward Rich Peverley collapsed on the bench from what doctors called a “cardiac event,” brought back sad memories for Devils right wing Jaromir Jagr.

Jagr, who played with Peverley last season in Boston, was teammates with Alexei Cherepanov on Avangard Omsk when the 19-year-old Rangers’ prospect collapsed on the bench during a KHL game against Vityav Chekhov on Oct. 13, 2008. Unlike with Peverley, who is in stable condition at The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, the end of the story for Cherepanov was not a happy one.

A defibrillator was used to shock Peverley’s heartbeat back into normal rhythm. The battery was dead in the defibrillator at the arena in Chekhov and there also was no ambulance on site. Cherepanov was eventually brought to the hospital, but died there.

“I was sitting next to (Peverley) in the Boston dressing room for three months,” Jagr said today. “So, when I read the news, when I saw the news, it’s pretty scary stuff because I remember what happened in Russia. I think the trainers and the doctors did a great job and probably saved his life. Back in Russia, they weren’t ready for that.”

Some of what was initially reported about what happened to Cherepanov was incorrect such as that he was playing on the same line as Jagr and that Jagr had accidentally elbowed him in the chest prior to him collapsing. Jagr and Cherepanov were not linemates, but Jagr was next to him the bench when he collapsed.

“I was sitting next to him on the bench when he collapsed, so that was pretty strange,” Jagr said. “But, back then, when he collapsed next to you, you don’t even think it can end like that. We finished the game. We finished the game. We didn’t really know what happened and after the game – it was like two, three minutes to go in the game anyway – they couldn’t make him alive.”

Devils coach Pete DeBoer could not imagine being in the position of Stars head coach Lindy Ruff, who was yelling frantically for help from a doctor after Peverley collapsed.

“I know Rich a little bit. He’s an Ontario kid (from Guelph), young family,” DeBoer said. “It’s tough. I can’t imagine being in the middle of that situation and dealing with that. I was actually glad to see they postponed game. You could see the emotion in some of the guys. It’s a shocking thing to be a part of, I’m sure, and thankfully the NHL does such a great job and having the right people in those circumstances saved his life.”

DeBoer said he’s never been involved in anything remotely close to what happened in Dallas, but after becoming the head coach in Florida in 2008-09 he heard a lot about what happened to Panthers forward Richard Zednik when he was cut in the throat by the skate of teammate Olli Jokinen the previous season in Buffalo.

“I got an opportunity to speak to (the Panthers trainers) about that and he basically practically died in the hallway there in Buffalo,” DeBoer said. “When I talked to Zednik about it, the cut, it was a tiny little cut. You would expect it to be an ear-to-ear cut. It was a little nick just in the right place. Those are scary situations.”

About

TOM GULITTI has covered the New Jersey Devils for The Record since 2002. Prior to that, he covered the New York Rangers for four years. Gulitti joined The Record in 1998 after six years at The North Jersey Herald News. He graduated from Binghamton University in 1991 with a Bachelor of Arts in Rhetoric-Literature.